The present invention relates to media dispensing machines, and more particularly to a machine for dispensing printed publications, such as newspapers, magazines and the like.
Newspaper and magazine dispensing machines are conventionally positioned in public areas, on busy street corners, in lobbies of public buildings and other similar locations in order to maximize exposure of the printed publications to the purchasing public. Generally, such newspaper and magazine dispensing machines are provided with a hollow housing with a pivotally connected front door that opens in response to deposit of the necessary amount of coins into a specially provided slot. The deposit of coins releases the latch mechanism that normally keeps the front door closed, allowing the buyer to pull the front door and gain access to the inventory of the publications stacked inside the housing.
Such design suffers from major drawbacks, one of which is easy accessibility by a paying customer to the entire inventory of newspapers or magazines. For example, a buyer who deposited the correct amount of money to buy one such publication can easily remove the entire inventory retained in the housing, thus depriving the vending machine operator from obtaining payment for the rest of the newspapers or magazines. Considerable commercial losses are suffered by many vending machine operators due to theft of publications from such conventional vending machines.
To solve this problem, various designs in vending machines were suggested. The main object of these designs is to restrict access of the public to the entire inventory of the printed publications located in the housing of the vending machine. One such design is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,400,919 issued on Mar. 28, 1995. In accordance with that patent, folded newspapers are advanced along an inclined platform by a push plate which supports a stack of folded newspapers. Individual copies of the newspaper are advanced to a vending position by operation of a roller which engages the foremost single copy and brings it into alignment with a hopper plate descending downwardly from the platform. After a customer pays for a copy of the newspaper, a single copy is allowed to fall through the hopper to an access slot for recovery by the customer. A sensor positioned in the hopper wall sends a signal to a control mechanism to allow activation of the roller and depositing of the next copy into the ready-to-vend position when the next customer can retrieve a copy after the trap door opens.
Such a design, while being an improvement over prior designs, still suffers from some disadvantages. For example, the trap door on which the fold of the newspaper rests while the newspaper is in the vending position, is located very close to the access opening, from which the newspaper is withdrawn by the buyer. Additionally, the entire inventory of the media units is positioned very close to the vending position. The design in accordance with the '919 patent requires provision of a special bailer which acts in combination with a cam/step motor unit to retain the forwardmost newspaper copy in a generally vertical orientation.
My co-pending applications solve the problem of one copy dispensing by providing a metering brake that is mounted on a bearing plate holding the publications in an upright position, thereby allowing only one copy of the publication to advance to a ready-to-vend position. While the designs in accordance with my co-pending applications tested satisfactory in the majority of cases, it was discovered that particularly thin newspapers, typically Thursday newspapers that contain only 20 or so pages, and multiple advertising inserts have a tendency of advancing at an uneven speed along the bearing plate.
For example, one edge of the newspaper would contact one of the metering brakes located adjacent the edge of the bearing plate and contact that metering brake, while movement of an opposite edge of the newspaper that contacts the opposite metering brake tends to slow down. This was considered not satisfactory for some of the particularly thin publications. The present invention contemplates elimination of drawbacks associated with prior designs and provision of an improved media unit dispensing machine suitable for dispensing newspapers or magazines, regardless of their thickness, one copy at a time.